Two hundred years in our future, mankind has made contact with a nigh-omniscient, pacifistic alien race known as The Prognosticate. With the help of these extraterrestrial visitors we have been able to solve the problems of overpopulation and disease. The Earth is recovering from our impact and our civilization is in a state of prosperity, united under the Alliance of Earthly Nations. Peace, however, is not in our nature.

The Darkest of Suns Will Rise tells the story of Aiden DeCaro and Clarissa Blue, the captain of a near-Earth defense ship and his damaged counterpart. The Orphanage, a loose collection of terrorist cells populated with religious zealots, destroys a merchant vessel while it moves through an AEN-protected trade route. Aiden's ship is the closest to the incident when it happens and when it's discovered that the Orphans are using Alliance military codes to nullify observation satellites and intercept civilian ships undetected, eyes turn toward Aiden.

Showing 1-4 of 4 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

This is a teasing, tantalizing book. Part of that may be because I’m not familiar with the conventions of the genre, but I know enough about it to sense that in this instance, the writer may actually be testing and stretching those conventions. The sci-fi essentials are there – space travel, extra-terrestrial entities, a close dependence of humans on machines and a society which has clearly evolved from some of the processes and preoccupations that prevail today. But there’s also a deliberate confusion, passages which challenge accepted social and moral behaviours, a reluctance to ascribe qualities such as heroism and treachery to exclusive sources. Motives and reciprocations overlap, acts of simple human jealousy sit among and are mixed with threats of potentially cataclysmic conflicts which may only be resolved by the premeditated creation of black holes. As Mr Spock might say, ‘It’s sci-fi, Jim, but not as we know it’. In fact, the impression I’ve retained from my reading of it is that it is so layered with events whose significance operates simultaneously at many separate levels that it might need several readings to understand all the author’s intended themes.

It’s certainly unconventional in its form and narrative techniques. Others have compared it with the epistolary novel, but examples of that genre seldom offered as many distinct viewpoints as this author exploits to convey the different layers and elements of his story. His principals share their interior and exterior monologues with us and are, in turn, probed and ‘explained’ by the advanced alien civilisation which has access to their rational and irrational thought processes. Between their diary entries and written interpersonal communications are extracts from databases of the type into which Wikipedia will evolve, written reports of serving officers, records of thought processes infiltrated and interpreted by the alien consciousness, items of correspondence. In other words, there are many voices, many opinions, many narrators. And this, too, must be a deliberate choice of the author. We’re told so often that a writer must show and not tell and, in my opinion bizarrely, there’s a reluctance to grant authors omniscience. The creation is theirs, everything in it is a product of their own thinking so of course they’re omniscient. The trick, the skill, is to parcel up that omniscience in such a way that it doesn’t intrude. The technique adopted here is to assign different aspects of the narrative – the internal fears and feelings of characters, the precise nature of the prevailing social conditions and structures, the policies driving the various factions, the actual events which occur and provoke reactions and plot developments – to appropriate sources: diaries, reports, conversations, internal monologues. Yes, it means the point of view changes repeatedly, but the change is signalled in a clear, bold headline immediately before the relevant passage so there should be no confusion in the reader’s mind about where the information’s coming from. The overall impression is of a carefully designed mosaic representing the preoccupations, sensations and perceptions of the story’s principals.

I know I’m focusing on the formal aspects of the book, but that’s because I found them intriguing. I’m also reluctant to summarise the plot because I don’t want to risk any spoilers and I think in any case that just ‘telling the story’ would do the novel an injustice. There aren’t any goodies and baddies in the conventional sense. The aliens, The Prognosticate, have infiltrated humanity and helped it to what, on the surface at least, seems to be a utopian peace. Illness has been banished, our despoliation of the earth has been reversed and there are logical futuristic developments of familiar everyday processes. The internet has become internets, nanotechnology has solved most of the problems which prevail today, religions have been superseded. But, perhaps as a result of all this, life seems dull, too easy, featureless. One of the elements which may disturb some readers is one character’s need for pain, an extreme masochism which makes excruciating demands. Objectively, in this monotonously perfect existence, it is perhaps a signal of the forces that have been suppressed but not extinguished. And, indeed, there are those who don’t accept the pacifying intrusions of the aliens. They are the Orphanage, led by a Mother, and they have not rejected the old Gods, so conflict is still a factor in this utopia – at private and public levels.

And, in the end, perhaps that is the book’s main message. The couple at its centre enjoy a relationship of domination and submission, the themes of subjugation and control are constantly restated. Maybe we’re not made for peaceful, unthreatened existence. We need to fight, to feel, to be challenged. But that ‘perhaps’ and that ‘maybe’ are important. The book’s teasing complexities may have other significations, different interpretations. What does seem clear is that the author has not taken an easy route here, but he has created a totally absorbing, well-constructed, poetic examination of the interplay of very mysterious forces.

The title is very appropriate- a good place to start and a connection that is often missing. The future here isn't one I would be eager for, one in which a super species, computer intelligence, and manipulated humans/androids, seem to subvert the very laws of nature and even of physics.This is about progress defeating culture, science defeating religion, and I sense a final hopelessness for the rebel 'Orphanage' in a following book. The 'Mother against invention' may not get another outing, as the script does stand alone, but I expect one.The style is very much telling, reporting, by characters. There is no omnipresent voice. This is a difficult style to pull off. We read a series of reports from different characters, different angles and shifting time. I was happy with that, but felt I needed to be taking my own notes. I'm sure I missed some significant points, which is always easier to do when the story is driven by detail about events rather that events as they unfold. We have to try and remember and distinguish between what is probably fact and what is likely to be flawed conjecture without narrative anchors. With one reading I got the spirit of the book rather than conviction that I understood every detail. However, I do agree with another reviewer here, Brent Meske's probably discovered plot hole. I'll be interested to know if any other readers agree. I reviewed from an advanced reader's copy, so it's perfectly feasible that Sfinas dealt with this issue prior to publication.This book breaks all sorts of fashionable 'rules' or advices about matching reader expectations in a book. I respect any author who can flick fingers at fashion with such aplomb. There are great swathes of formulaic books pumped out by the writing factories, so three cheers for Sfinas. This is a very original, left of field, creative book with some fine science fiction speculations. No live action here, and plenty of infill needed by one's imagination, I just would rather not have been made to feel so mentally sick by the pictures I painted of the central sadomasochistic relationship.

Two dysfunctional people love and battle, the fate of the world dangling between their bloody and bloodied hands. To say that this is an unusual book would be too great an understatement. This book is unique. Told completely in journal entries and reports, the story rolls out jumpy and jumbled, and yet making perfect sense by the end. Another reviewer felt the ending came out of nowhere. I thought, though it was a surprise, it fit perfectly.

A warning: there were scenes I found extremely difficult to read. That said, Sfinas—having invented these characters—did a masterful job at helping us understand them, even when their actions were appalling.

I’ve vacillated between giving this book four and five stars, sometimes feeling it isn’t quite up to a five-star rating, and then thinking about it more and deciding it is. This isn’t a story for the faint-hearted or those wanting easily understood, common characters and conventional happy endings. But the adventurous reader, the reader wanting a book that will challenge their intellect and emotions will not be disappointed.

This novel is set two-hundred years in the future and is written in a journalistic format. With this writer, every word counts, and he leaves you clues all over ... so you have to be alert for them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and it gave me a good dose of sci-fi and mystery all rolled into one. Mankind has come into contact with a pacifist Alien race know as the Prognosticate, and they are able to read our brain patterns. Not everybody wants to work with them, or with the AEN (Alliance of Earthly Nations), and the Orphanage is born ... a loosely-knit group of terrorist cells who are all about sabotaging both the AEN and humankind's Alliance with the Prog. This is one of those reads that keeps you turning the pages and has you greedily devouring every line. A strong 5 stars from me.

Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon.com

Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
22 reviews

Peter Wilkes

5.0 out of 5 starsPowerful theme, powerful story...

31 January 2017 - Published on Amazon.com

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I want to say right away that I am not a regular science fiction reader. But you don’t have to be to thrill to The Darkest of Suns Will Rise for this book transcends genres in some remarkable ways. A physical world that seemingly all of us would aspire to lacks one critical ingredient; the ability to feel, to empathize with the other. Acted out through the most possessive of relationships between our two principals is a constant search to find that feeling while, at a higher level, the battle that rages between Science/Logic and Spirituality assures us that the search can only end in failure. It is only at the end when a totally surprising— and for this reader, highly appropriate—twist leaves us with the slightest hope that empathy may still be found in this world can we finally can breathe easier. Highly recommended for a world that is getting crazier and crazier by the minute.

It is very hard for me to categorize this book. On the one hand, it is evidently science fiction, but from there it’s hard to put your finger on it. Part romance, part mystery, part ominous Nostradamian prediction about our future - The Darkest of Suns Will Rise is truly an avant garde piece that shirks a lot of writing’s norms. It’s very Pynchon in that it is complex and at times hard to follow - but the story is all there, hidden among the amazing wordplay. It’s very Herbert in that Sfinas has created a very real universe here. This is partly such a success because it draws so much from our own reality but also because it lives in breathes. The characters, the locations and the technology all blend beautifully together to create this sometimes depressing panorama. Finally, the Clarissa bits were particularly Kafkaesque. Self-reflection can be brutal and Sfinas captures that perfectly in this novel. While some might find the approach jarring and that the themes hit hauntingly close-to-home, it’s clear that this is a world with unique angles. I think there’s something for everyone here if you’re willing to look, but I can also see it going over a lot of heads. You just won’t find a book like this anywhere else. The twists and turns are remarkable, the characters are never telling the truth and the violence is exciting but tempered. It’s got everything I want from an edgy sci fi novel and everything I expect from this author. Five stars.

With his latest book, Brian, I feel, has put himself in the ranks of some very good company: Huxley and Orwell comes to mind...and even Harlan Ellison. Let me post of quote of Huxley regarding Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four:

On 21 October 1949, Huxley wrote to George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, congratulating him on "how fine and how profoundly important the book is". In his letter to Orwell, he predicted:

Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience.[19]

One can sense an homage of sorts to those authors in Brian's writing, though always mindful of being highly individualistic in his thoughts and characterizations.

Brian’s books demand attention and punish those who won’t give it up. This piece might require of you a second read-through, and as a reader I was absolutely willing. This is the kind of book where you’re proud of yourself for picking up on the clues that the author gives. It is part mystery, part thriller, part science fiction and part alternative romance. This is the kind of book where you drink in every page, lapping up every line and begging your Pavlovian master to make you salivate more. I give this book my highest recommendation for those willing to think outside of the box. Prepare to have your reality thoroughly trolled

I'm not usually a fan of futuristic stories. I'm sort of stuck in what I know already happened or could happen given what we know of the present. However, Mr. Sfinas has changed all that. His novel captured me from page 1. I was immediately immersed in a world so fascinating, so innovative and intriguing, that I had no difficulty becoming excited to explore.